The New Girl In School
by QueenLF
Summary: The story of Lizzie, a teenage girl and the latest student of YouTube High. She struggles with the stress of growing up as well as finding out what type of YouTuber she wants to be. But with friends like Felix, Ray, Phillip, Marzia, Toby and Shane, school should be a breeze. And is there a chance of a relationship in her future?
1. Chapter 1

I hear the roar of the car's engine as my mother drives home. "This is it," I think as I stare at the school in awe, wisps of my blonde hair blowing into my face. "This is what you've been waiting for. There's no backing out now." I slowly climb the steps to the front door, pushing it open with a creek. The main hall is deserted. "They all must still be in class," I think as I walk in the direction of the principal's office, my backpack slung lazily over one shoulder. "After all, I am pretty late."

The woman at the office looks up at me from her work. "Name?" she says in a monotone voice.  
I try to display as much confidence as I can without sounding too proud. "Lizzie Matthews," that sounded okay.  
I see a flash of recognition in the old woman's eyes. "Ah yes," she says. She points me in the direction of the principal's office and tells me not to scuff up the floor too much with my black Converses.

I swing the door open and see principal Eisner sitting at his desk. He looks up from his work and motions for me to sit down. I take a seat opposite him as the principal begins to talk about the school.  
"Getting a scholarship to this school is one of the highest honours anyone with any hopes of making it in the business you pursue can achieve," he says proudly, "so I expect only the highest integrity and best behaviour. When you represent our school, you represent it with honour."

I listen intently and nod whenever he asks me a question. I've been waiting to get into this school since I set up my channel. Although I'm still unsure why they let me in now, I haven't even made a single video.

Mr Eisner looks at me from across the table, and I realise that I haven't said a single word since setting foot in the school.  
"Would you like me to find someone to help you around the school?" He asks.  
"Yes please," I say, nodding my head. The principal lifts a microphone to his mouth.  
"Phillip DeFranco, report to the principal's office immediately." I hear his voice in the office and booming through the sound system. While we wait he talks to me about my last school, how life is going to change, and what is expected of me as far as classes and behaviour goes, until another student bounds in the door. He is quite a stout boy, about fifteen. Average build, spiky black hair and small brown eyes. He's wearing sneakers and a vintage tee-shirt.

"Alright sir," he says, smiling, not yet having taken notice of me, "it is thirteen and a half minutes into the school year. What have I done this time?" He seems to slightly revel in getting into trouble.  
"DeFranco," Eisner says, motioning to me, "this is Lizzie Matthews." the boy looks at me and gives a small wave, as I wave in the same style and give a small smile back, remember trying to stay confident.

"I'd like you to show her around, introduce her, and get her use to life around here." The boy looks at me and nods with a smile. I look to Mr Eisner, who motions for me to go with him. I rise from my seat and cross the room, Phillip holding out a hand for me to shake.  
"Nice to meet you, Lindy. My name's Phil." I give a smile back.

"Nice to meet you, too."

I walk out of the office with Phil, who asks to see my school schedule. I pass it over, and he glances at my class number, with a nod.

"You're in my class, Y.9B," he said. "It's just down this hall and to the left, follow me." I walk next to Phil down the hall, and to a door labelled 'Y.9B' with black tape letters. When he opens the door, the scene inside surprises me. There are barely any kids in the classroom, almost all of them with cameras. A group of boys and gorgeous girls film at the back of the room, sharing a smartphone between them and taking turns talking about their summer to it. Two boys stand in the middle of the room, singing as one of their friend's filming, and another boy stands in the corner, playing on a Nintendo DS. Two other boys spot me and Phil and dash towards us. One of them has brown hair, swept across from one side of his head to the other, with hazel eyes and a broad, cheesy smile. The other boy is slightly shorter than the other two, with brown eyes and spikes slightly more intense than Phil's, as well as glasses. They both give him a high-five each.

"Hey, PhillyD!" The shorter one cheers, "We didn't see you this morning."

"Yeah, we thought you'd been murdered!" the brown-haired boy says, sounding cheerful as he speaks.

"Yeah, sorry about that, guys," Phil chuckles. He motions to me. "I was asked to look after the new girl. Shane, Ray, I'd like to introduce you guys to Lizzie." Shane sighs.

"Dammit, we've got too many pretty faces in this school already without another one!" He says, mock anger in his voice. Ray holds out a hand for me to shake.

"Ray William Johnson," he says as I take it. But instead of shaking my hand, he lifts it to his lips and kisses it softly.

"Pleasure to meet you," he gives wink. I smile and pull my hand away slowly, feeling my cheeks heat up. I can't tell if these guys are hitting on me, or if that's just how they do things around here. Either way, we catch the teacher's attention. He's a balding man with a slight beard and glasses.

He also holds out a hand for me to shake. I take it hoping he doesn't do the same as Ray. That would just be weird.

"Nice to meet you, Lizzie," he says, smiling, "I'm mister Stevens. I'll be your homeroom and science teacher."

"But everyone just calls him Michael," Shane said. I give my new teacher a small smile.

"Nice to meet you too, 'Michael'." I've never called a teacher by their first name. Most schools would give a kid a detention for doing so.

Michael walks to the front of the class, and calls for everyone to be quiet.

"Now, I know some of the people in this class are off visiting their friends in other classrooms, but while most of you are here, I'd like to introduce you to our newest class member. Everyone, this is Lizzie." A joyful chorus of 'Hi Lizzie' erupts in the room, as Phil, Ray and Shane make it their duty to introduce me to everyone in the class. The two singers introduce themselves as Rhett and Link and continue with their video. If everyone has names as interesting as this, they won't be hard to remember. The boy with the DS shakes my hand and gives me an awkward smile.

"My name's Dan," he says with a British accent, "I'm just waiting for my friend Phil to get here."

The large group at the back seem slightly more... friendly than the others I've already met.

"You guys," Shane says, getting their attention, "this is Lizzie, the new kid." One of the girls in the group, who has wavy brown hair and brown eyes, envelopes me in a hug.

"It's so nice to meet you!" she squeals, "My name's Grace!"

"Give her some room to breathe," another girl says. She's wearing a plaid shirt over a vintage rock tee, and her hair is cut in a short bob that curls around her head. She holds out a hand for me to shake.

Hannah Hart, nice to meet you," she says, smiling. I give her a handshake before the rest of the group introduce themselves. A boy with bleached hair and glasses steps up next.

"Hi, I'm Tyler, it's great to meet you," he says cheerfully. He holds my one hand between both of his as we shake hands. I like this guy.

The next boy is quite tan, with brown hair and blue eyes. Even though it's late summer, he's wearing a jersey.

"Troye Sivan, nice to meet you, Lizzie," he says, giving a shy smile.

"Nice to meet you, too. That's a cool accent, where's it from?"

"Oh, I was born in South Africa and raised in Aussie," he says with a smile. He seems like a nice guy.

"So, where's everyone else?" I ask, looking around the near-empty classroom.

"They'll be in the other classrooms, probably catching up after summer," Hannah explains, lifting herself to sit on a desk.

Shane slings an arm over my shoulder and begins to explain to me. "It's sort of an unspoken tradition that on the first day back, everyone just spends it dicking around and catching up with their friends after summer, so there's a good chance you won't meet most of your class until tomorrow." I give a nod of understanding and decide to just spend the rest of the morning hanging out with the kids in the room. It's about half an hour later and, besides Phil starting on a fresh juice box, nothing changes, until a girl walks in. She has long blonde hair that reaches past her shoulders. She's greeted with a chorus throughout the room. "Jenna," they cry as she walks in. She puts on a creepy face and says "Hello, friends." I turn to Phil as she strolls to the group at the back of the room.

"Who is that?" I ask silently. Phil looks at me with a raised eyebrow, dumfounded.

"That's Jenna Marbles," he says, equally silent, "one of the most popular girls at school and on the school website." I look at him strangely.

"Wait, so, YouTube is the school website?" He gives a nod. Ray decides it's his turn to explain.

"So, when the school was founded, the website began as just a way for students to upload their video projects, because videos were the only way they accepted projects. But when they allowed anyone to upload content, things got bigger than they ever imagined, and when the staff realized that stars could be made out of it, the changed the school's curriculum to specialize in sketch comedy, speech and confidence classes, filming techniques, editing shortcuts and stuff like that. Only the best of the best get in. That reminds me, what type of videos do you do?"

I swallow the lump in my throat. "Um...I – haven't posted any videos yet." Shane gasps in shock and covers his mouth. Ray's jaw hits the floor and Phil squeezes his juice bow so hard that it spurts up, high enough to hit the ceiling and splash back down, causing a large puddle of fruit drink when it hits the floor.

"You're cleaning that up," Michael says, pointing at Phil. Phil gives a nervous nod and a smile, convincing Michael to turn back to his Physics book. The three then return to the topic of me not having any videos.

"How did you even GET into this school without any videos?!" Ray asks in shock. I give a confused shrug.

"I just set up my channel and then two days later a scholarship arrived in the mail," my sweet ignorance seems to have convinced them. Even I have no idea why I got in; all I know is that I would never pass up an opportunity like this.

"Y'know what, let's not argue, it's the first day, and we've all got some catching up to do." A look of surprise flashes on Shane's face.

"Oh shit, I haven't met up with Lisa yet!" He slides off of the desk he's sitting on and out the door, quickly waving goodbye to us remaining three. We give him a quick wave in return before he dashes down the hall towards the other classrooms. As the day progresses, quite a few more people come and go from the class. Rhett and Link leave, but their place is filled by Dan's friend Phil. The two of them begin swapping Pokémon tips. Dan looks to me and ushers me towards them. Unlike Dan, Phil has blue eyes, but they share the emo haircut. These guys seem nice; maybe I should hang out with them sometime. Beside him, two other boys enter the room. A ton of kids at this school have strange haircuts – one of these two has yet another emo cut, the other has a classic bowl.

"Yo, Smoshites," Ray calls to the two boys as they walk in. He puts a hand on my back.

"This is Lizzie. She's the new girl here," he tells them. The two approach us, the bowl haired one holding out a hand.

"Nice to meet you!" he says loudly, giving my hand a vigorous shake. His friend pulls him back by the shoulder.

"Dude, don't freak out the new kid," he says patronizingly. "Sorry about him. He's not used to talking to people, mainly because he has no friends." Bowl-hair pulls his shoulder from his friend.

"Sorry about HIM," he retorts, "he's not used to conducting himself around a lady, mainly because he's never had a girlfriend."

"You DonkWeed!"

"You're the DonkWeed!" A fight breaks out between the two. I can tell they're best friends.

"Guys, c'mon, simmer down!" Phil says, first softly, then yelling by the end of his sentence. The two pause, bowl hair with emo-hair in a headlock, and emo-hair digging his incisors into bowl-hair's wrist.

"Obviously neither of you know how to conduct yourselves in front of a lady!" At this, the two of them end their combat , dusting themselves off.

"Sorry about that," emo-hair says, looking at his shoes. "I'm Anthony, and this is Ian." I hold out a hand for both of them.

"Nice to meet you guys."

The rest of the morning is uneventful. I sit and talk with everyone in the class – Dan, Phil L, Phil D, Ray, Ian, Anthony, Grace, Hannah, Tyler and Troye, until the bell rings. They all inhale excitedly.

"Lunchtime!" they cheer.


	2. Chapter 2

I jog alongside Phil and Ray as every person in every class seems to pour out into the corridor.

"I don't get it," I say, "what's so important about lunch?" They gasp and look at me as if I have just broken the law.

"What so IMPORTANT about LUNCH?!" Ray repeats, shock ripe in his voice. I guess it's time for them to explain again.

"Lizzie, lunch is the coolest part of our day!" He tells me over the noise, "I guess you've never met our school chef. He is so awesome. In fact, he doesn't even call it lunch. He calls it Epic Mealtime."

I shake my head as I try to keep up with the crowds. Either these guys have been brainwashed, or this chef is the best in the world. I filter through the heavy doors and glance around the stadium-sized cafeteria. The one thing that catches my eye is a large balcony fixed to the back wall, with a giant flight of steps leading up to it. God knows what it's used for.

Phil rushes towards a boy further up in line, with dark curly hair and brown eyes.

"Toby!" He cries, doing one of those handshakes that turns into the hug.

"How've you been Phil, I haven't seen you all summer!" 'Toby' seems just as happy to see him.

"Oh summer was great, but now I've been asked to show the new kid around." Phil points to me, and ushers me forward. Ray, Ian and Anthony assure me that they'll save our spot.

"Toby, I'd like to introduce you to Lizzie," he says. Toby smiles at me, and gives my hand a shake.

"Nice to meet you," he yells over the cafeteria din, "My name's Toby, but a lot of people call me Tobuscus."

"Tobuscus," I repeat, still shaking his hand "nice." He nods and smiles, before asping and giving a wide grin.

"The other's will LOVE to meet you," he says. "You should come and sit with us."

"Sure," I say, slightly surprised at the sheer amount of hospitality in this school, "what table are you guys sitting at?" He points to a very loud and hectic table, filled with kids cracking jokes every chance they get and scaring the Hell out of each other when they could. I gave a nod and walked back to my place in line with the others. Anthony gives me a pat on the back.

"You're gonna love the gamers table," he comments.

"Gamers table?" I repeat, "Wait, so you're telling me that all of the subjects on YouTube are actually cliques?" Ian gives a nod, before elbowing Anthony.

"The two of us are skit comedians and gamers, so we'll be at your table today. And some kids can fit into tonnes of cliques. Like Toby, he's a gamer, animator, parody singer and comedian," Ian explains. I give a nod. The line slowly moves forward, until it's my turn to be served. I look up, and instead of seeing a lunch-lady, I see a man, far taller than I am, with chains around his neck and a hairnet over his impressive brown beard. I pull my lips together tightly. It's all I can do to keep myself from laughing.

He gives me a nod and then flips his spatula over on my tray, ushering me off. I am about to laugh, until I glance down at my lunch. The orange, plastic tray is completely covered in a giant slice of lasagne. I give it a prod with my plastic fork, pushing away a section of cheese to reveal a completely made hamburger. I stare at it, wide-eyed, before looking up to see Ian, Anthony and Toby beckoning me over to their table. I take the space between Toby and a sandy haired, blue eyed boy who speaks with a strange accent. He's telling a story to a lanky boy with black hair and brown eyes. Toby leans back, reaches behind me and taps the boy on the shoulder while he's telling the other boy some story about barrels or something.

"Hey, Felix," he says getting the boys attention. When he turns around, instead of seeing Toby, he sees me sitting next to him. A look of surprise dawns on him, but it only lasts for a millisecond. Toby continues,

"Felix, I'd like to introduce you to the new girl. This is Lizzie."

Felix gives a smile and a laugh.

"How's it goin' bro?" He holds out a fist. I bump mine into his, smiling.

"Good, thanks," I tell him.

"So, is this your first day here?" He asks. I can't tell where exactly his accent is from, but it makes me smile.

"Uh, yeah. I was just wondering, where's your accent from?" I ask. He smiles, like he gets the question a lot.

"I'm actually Swedish, but came here to go to this school school quite a few years ago, so my accent's kinda diluted," he explains. "You should meet my girlfriend," he laughs, "she came here a few years ago from Italy and I sometimes still can't understand what she's saying sometimes."

As if summoned, a girl bounds up to Felix, knocking him slightly as she wraps her arms around his shoulders. Felix takes it on the chin and kisses her on the cheek.

"Hey there, CutiePie," he says, the girl giggling. Cute is just the word I'd use to describe her. Long, light-brown hair that reaches down past her shoulders, dark brown eyes, a very bubbly personality and a smile that could melt hearts. I give Felix a smile which he returns, only for it to wiped off by a look of remembrance a few seconds later.

"Oh, and Marzia, this is Lizzie, she's new here." Marzia turns to me and smiles, holding out a hand for me to shake.

"It's nice to meet you Lizzie. You can call me CutiePieMarzia if you want, tonnes of people do. And it sort of fits with the theme of Felix's nickname." I give Felix a sideways glance at hearing about his 'nickname'. He quickly explains,

"Oh yeah. My name is PEEEEEEEWWWWDIEPIEEE!" I give a small giggle. How's that for a nickname? We then return to the topic of lunch.

"Don't you guys just love Chef Harley's hamburger lasagne?" Toby says. Felix nods, as well as the boy next to him, who introduces himself as Jordan. Toby looks at me, and I give a shrug.

"I haven't tried it yet," I admit. Ian and Anthony give me a look.

"Well, don't leave us in suspense," they say. I prod the food with my fork, a small chunk coming off. I lift it slowly to my mouth, the others watching me with wide eyes. Taking a deep breath, I shove the pile of calories in my mouth before I can think twice. It's amazing. It's hard to describe, but two flavours that I can pick out are cheese and beef. The others are still waiting for me to vocalise my thoughts.

"Delicious," is all that I say after finishing my mouthful. The entire table erupts in a cheer. I giggle, but I catch sight of a table crowded mainly with older kids. They look like they come from all walks of life, some of them with glasses and beanies, some of them with Bieber hair, some holding Bibles to their chests, some of them with ears and noses full of studs. I look at them sideways as they all glare at me, one girl with black hair and more piercings than I can count scowling at me. I turn away uneasily. What the Hell was that about?

My mind is taken off of it by another girl heading to the table. She looks at us all and holds a finger to her lips, a smile behind it. She creeps up behind Anthony and sets and hand on his shoulder. He gives a wry smile. When he turns around, the girl kisses him. She has brown eyes, tan skin and honey-coloured hair. Pretty.

"Hey babe," Anthony says once their kiss has ended. She gives him a smile and ruffles his hair before her gaze passes to me. She gives me a small smile.

"Anthony, are you going to introduce me?" she asks, looking back to him. He seems confused for a second, before remembering me.

"Oh yeah," he says, "Kalel, this is Lizzie, Lizzie, this is my girlfriend Kalel." She has a very interesting name, that's for sure. Kalel holds out a hand, reaching from behind Anthony.

"Nice to meet you," she says calmly, holding out a hand for me to shake. I take it as she gives me a soft smile. She and Anthony then continue to talk. As I eat, I can still feel the other kid's eyes on me. But I don't sense the boy standing right behind me.

As I lift a forkful of lasagne to my mouth, I see Ian and Anthony giggling from the other side of the table. I raise an eyebrow, realising that they're giggling at me. I look myself up and down, trying to find what they're laughing at, before slowly turning my head. As soon as I see the boy, he shouts "WHERE'S THE BLACKSMITH?!" right in my face. I get such a fright that I drop my fork and jump in my seat. The others nearly die laughing, except for the boy who scared me. He just stands there with a wide grin on his face. He has dark hair and olive skin. Black, slightly square glasses cover his dark brown eyes and a plain grey shirt covers his broad build.

"Sorry about Mark," Felix says, wiping a tear of laughter from his eye, "He does that to all of the new kids." I give a giggle to show that these guys that I'm not averse to having fun poked at me. The focus quickly changes to shouting coming from the end table. He's shouting to Felix and Mark. I turn my head, but I can't see him behind the head of a tall boy sitting two people down.

"Oh hey Cry!" Felix shouts, standing up behind me, Mark also waving to the boy. I can see the other boy's hand shoot into the air, in it a porcelain mask with a very plain, straight face on it. The hand falls, and he walks towards the two, mask now on his face. He points at it, and I can see him smiling from the small portion of his face that the mask doesn't cover. It also doesn't cover his shaggy, dark brown hair.

"Look what I got over summer," he says, grinning ear-to-ear.

"It looks pretty cool," Mark compliments, enlarging Cry's grin.

"Yeah, my grandma sent it to me while I was sick."

Felix nods, his mouth full of bread. "Strep throat has never been so rewarding," he comments, just as the lights dim and everyone hushes. Toby leans over and talks to me as a spotlight focuses on the balcony.

"Get ready for the whole school to meet you," he tells me. I smile, even though I have no idea what he's talking about. Then, the music starts. It's blaring hip-hop music, and the cafeteria erupts in a cheer as chef Harley walks to the edge of the spotlight, a microphone in hand as he reaches the metal balcony.

"Welcome back hooligans!" he shouts, the crowds cheering even more.

"Did everyone enjoy their summer?!" He shouts. More cheers.

"And is everyone enjoying their hamburger lasagne?!" The crowd is the loudest possible.

"Alright, awesome! Okay, notices." He lifts up a small sheet of paper and glances over it.

"Could Lizzie Matthews please come forward?"

I feel two hands on my back, pushing me to stand up. Looking back as I walk forward, I can see Felix and Toby smiling. In the dim light I can just make out them giving me the thumbs up. I weave my way between the tables and to the staircase. As I begin to climb, Chef Harley meets me half way. He claps a hand on my back and stands next to me. He's so tall it's almost intimidating.

"Alright, ladies and gentlemen, please give a hand for our latest addition, Lizzie!" The crowd erupts in cheering and clapping as the light shines down on me. The cheering makes me smile, but I can hear something else. Booing. Booing and Jeering coming from the other end of the cafeteria. If I can remember correctly, it was the table near ours with all of the glaring kids. Chef Harley can hear it too.

"Hey, to whoever's booing," he calls out once the cheering has quieted, "I'd be willing to come down there and kick your asses."

"I'd like to see you try, dick!" A voice calls out, followed by whooping from those around it. The words anger me, but it's too dark for us to see who it is.

"Alright, thank you Lizzie," Chef Harley says, brushing off the words, "you can go back to your seat."

I nod and begin down the stairs. As I begin down I hear him yell out, "Lizzie Matthews, everyone!" The cheering starts again, without the booing. By the time I'm back to my table I'm as red as a beet. I'm glad it's too dark for anyone to notice. Chef Harley returns to the stage and continues with the notices. Apparently our class and another are going on a field trip in three weeks and ten dollars is needed by next Monday. Even as he talks, and lunch continues, I still can't get their jeers out of my head. They were so sharp and harsh, but the people shouting them didn't even know me.

During lunch I find out that Felix and Toby are in my class. 'Two more friends', I think to myself.


End file.
